The Past is Only the Future with the Lights On

“So how was your date with Skyler last night?”

Those were the words that left Frank’s mouth the following morning when we met to go to school. Didn’t even bother to return the “Good morning” I’d given him. Just “how was the date?” And not in a very nice tone, either.

If he was going to be in another one of his little moods then I wanted nothing to do with him.

“It wasn’t a date,” I said simply, adjusting the strap on my shoulder as we walked.

What did he care anyways? It was my business who I hung out with. Not his.

Neither of us spoke for the rest of the duration of our walk. I think we both knew that if one of us said something wrong and it got out of hand, a fight would brew. And that’s not what we wanted.

Finally making it to school, I spotted our friends, sitting on our regular bench, and started making my way towards them.

“Kelly,” Frank suddenly said from directly behind me, lightly gripping my wrist and turning me towards him. “The last thing I want is to make you mad. I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me back there. Are we okay?”

I looked him in the eye, seeing nothing but sincerity and trust in those beautiful pools of hazel that a girl could easily drown in if she wasn’t careful enough.

“Kelly?” Told you.

Shaking those thoughts off, I wrapped my arms tightly around him in a warm hug. “Of course we’re okay,” I mumbled. But couldn’t help but think …for now.

“Good,” he said, pulling away but leaving his arm on my shoulders as we continued walking to the couple now making out on the bench. “So…did you have fun last night?” he asked, actually sounding interested. Although it did seem a bit forced…like he was just asking so he wouldn’t get on my bad side.

And as much as I wanted to lie and tell him about what a terrible time I had, I couldn’t deny the truth. “You have no idea!” I gushed, unable to hide the wide smile now stretched across my lips. “Skyler is so great, I can’t believe its taken me this long to realize, you know?” I said, laughing at myself, seeing him nod out of the corner of my eye. Now only a couple feet away from the ‘passionate lovers,’ I crossed my legs and plopped myself onto the grass, Frank copying my actions. “It was so much fun. And you’ll never believe what happened!”

I looked at him with my wide, excited eyes, waiting for him to say something.

“…He asked you out?” he guessed, putting on a small, odd looking smile. I wasn’t used to this smile. I couldn’t tell what it meant.

“No, silly,” I said, lightly slapping his leg. “They banned us from the mall for the next six months!” I told him proudly, noticing his smile turn into a more convincing, almost knowing, grin.

“I knew you could do it,” he teased, resulting in me sticking my tongue out at him.

“Well, I’m glad you had fun. Do you think you could find some time to fit some Frankie into your new, busy dating schedule?” he pouted, pulling the puppy dog eyes on me.

Oh Frank, you don’t have to use those puppy dog eyes on me.Simply looking at me will make me give in.

I laughed, gently patting his head. “Of course, Frankie. In fact, I think there may be an opening tonight,” I told him with a smile, watching him nod his head vigorously with a cheesy grin on his lips. “Okay, tonight we’ll have some Frankie-Kelly time, yeah?” Once again, he nodded.

Mikey and Dahlia pulled away long enough to finally realize we were sat in front of them - or they just ran out of breath and decided to stop ignoring us.

“Oh yeah, so how was your date with Skyler?” D asked nonchalantly, glancing at me from her spot next to her boyfriend. Leaning her head on his shoulder, she smiled intently at me, waiting for me to tell her all about it.

“It wasn’t a date.” Why did it seem that I was continuously telling everyone this? “But it was nice. I had a lot of fun.”

Dahlia nodded in understanding, exchanging looks with our male friends.

“So…are you planning on talking to him today?” she asked with a thoughtful expression.

“Uhm, yeah. I suppose I can,” I shrugged. “Why?”

She smiled her wicked, devilish grin she uses when she’s ‘definitely up to something’ and snuggled in closer to Mikey.

Realizing she was not intent on saying anything else, Mikey continued for her, speaking for the first time since Frank and I had arrived.

“Because him and Camden are on their way over here.”